In the Rigveda, Dyaus Pitr appears in verses 1.89.4, 1.90.7, 1.164.33, 1.191.6, 4.1.10. and 4.17.4[4] He is also referred to under different theonyms: Dyavaprithvi, for example, is a dvandva compound combining 'heaven' and 'earth' as Dyaus Pitr and Prithvi Mata.

The name Dyauṣ Pitṛ is etymologically connected to theonyms such as the Greek Zeus Pater, and closely related to Latin (Roman) Jupiter. Both Dyauṣ and Zeus stem from a Proto-Indo-European*Dyeus (also *Dyḗus Ph₂tḗr, alternatively spelled *Dyḗws). This, and many other parallels such as the similarity of Vedic rain god Parjanya to SlavicPerun, LithuanianPerkūnas, and NorseThor
and Fjörgyn, led 19th-century scholars to comparative mythology studies and a conjecture that Vedic, post-Vedic, Greek, and Roman rituals likely had more ancient Proto-Indo-European roots.[5]

The noun dyaús (when used without the pitā́ 'father') refers to the daylit sky, and occurs frequently in the Rigveda, as an entity. The sky in Vedic writing was described as rising in three tiers, avamá, madhyamá, and uttamá or tṛtī́ya.[6]